Entitlement

Times are tough in Metro Detroit. I live in a community that has been painfully acquainted with corporate restructuring, mass lay-offs, mandatory vacation time, and buy-outs. These terms make up a partial list of corporate-speak for a struggling economic climate--they are terms that have personal meaning for many who work and live in Southeast Michigan.

Perhaps it's ironic. The same industry that placed Detroit in the international spotlight faces crippling conditions that are challenging the most seasoned business leaders. Many families in this region face bankruptcy and foreclosure, and the housing market has stalled. Companies are filing for bankruptcy alongside the employees they've been forced to cast aside. Over time, the landscape of the city has changed for the worse, and though some might argue there have been signs of improvement, some city residents feel they are fundamentally ignored. These are serious problems that require the cooperation and innovation of the business community, government officials and citizens at large. The seriousness of the situation in Detroit makes recent news more disheartening than people who live here can adequately express.

It is national news. The mayor of Detroit is embroiled in a scandal the depth and breadth of which has yet to be revealed. So far, we have read evidence that he committed perjury in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by well-regarded police officers who claimed they were wrongfully terminated. We have read reports that suggest that the mayor and then chief of staff Beatty fired these gentlemen to cover up their personal sexual relationship--a relationship they both lied about on the witness stand. Allegations continue to surface on other issues from city contracts to interference with a murder investigation.

For news agencies, it's all there. Sex, lies, and videotape.

Several tapes that have aired since this scandal broke continue to weigh on me. In one, the mayor (after hiding from the media for nearly a week) speaks to the city from his church with his wife at his side. He spoke of "deeply personal" issues. He spoke of the pain of his wife and children and the pain of residents of the City of Detroit. He said he was sorry, but for legal reasons couldn't elaborate.

Later in a radio interview, he said he felt he had been "called by God" to be the mayor of Detroit. He's said he won't quit on the citizens. He refuses to consider resigning as Spitzer did and can't understand why many feel he should. To make matters worse, he continues to ratchet up racially charged rhetoric that further divides a region that can't survive in a divided state.

There is not one verse in the Dhammapada that couldn't be applied to this situation in some way.

As I think about it and I think about how disturbed I am by attitudes of entitlement in general, and this case in particular, I turned to the Dhammapada for some insight. What consitutes an attitude of entitlement? The absence of humility? The belief that wrong is right because of one's own specialness? The belief that one deserves to be judged by standards separate and apart from the everyday person. What might the Dhammapada offer to one who is plagued by this attitude? I think today's Daily Dharma says it all.